


The fox, the eye and the bug

by Godspeed_Killua



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Minor Character Death, Training, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26338417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Godspeed_Killua/pseuds/Godspeed_Killua
Summary: Shino replaces Sakura in Team 7.  This will not be romance focused. This is an action focused story where characters will make decisions that make sense and suit their characters and will face consequences for their actions.  Rated T.





	1. Team 7

The Fox, the Eye and the Bug  
Chapter 1: Team 7  
abcd- normal text/speech/ Shikamaru inner monologues   
abcd- jutsu  
abcd- internal thought  
abcd- author’s notes   
abcd- bijuu  
abcd- Killer Bee’s raps  
abcd- pissed off Tsunade/ pissed off Sakura/ pissed off Yamato/ pissed off Iruka

“And now for Team 7.” Began Iruka Sensei. Naruto hoped this would be his squad. Six squads had come before this and Naruto still hadn’t been assigned to a team. He didn’t really have great patience. He hoped he would get sorted into the same squad as a certain pink haired kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura. He was fine with anyone being his other teammate if it wasn’t the Sasuke brat every girl in this class seemed to be attracted to.   
“This team consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino and…” began Naruto’s teacher. Naruto himself was relieved at hearing this. Ninja teams usually consisted generally of two shinobi and one kunoichi or two kunoichi and one shinobi. Rarely did it ever consist of three shinobi or three kunoichi. So, this announcement meant that he won’t be in the same squad as Sasuke and he still had a chance of getting in the same squad as Sakura.  
“… and Uzumaki Naruto.” Finished the Chunin instructor. Naruto nearly flipped out at this. “But Iruka Sensei why do I have to be with this teme and quite guy over there.” protested the orange jumpsuit clad shinobi.  
Iruka inflated his head using the Teacher’s Scolding No Jutsu. “Calm down Naruto. These teams have been chosen carefully so as to bring the best out of every individual and team. Now sit down and don’t make me scream again.” Iruka said giving him the Konoha Academy secret jutsu: Death Glare and effectively forcing him to sit down.   
Iruka finished with the announcement of all the teams (A/N: All canon teams are retained except for Sakura joining Team 8 in place of Shino) “That’s it for today, don’t be late tomorrow; you’re meeting your jounin instructors for the very first time.” Iruka said and dismissed everyone. As much as he tried to hide it, he was really proud of his class. All 33 of them had passed the genin exams. That was a rare occurrence that any teacher would be proud of. Once they had all left, Iruka wiped a tear from his face and remembered the moments he had shared with this batch of students. 

The next day, each student came at time excited to meet their jounin instructor with the exception of Shikamaru, who had to be practically dragged out of the Nara household by Ino and Choji.   
Sasuke watched in silence as another team’s jounin came and this groups fangirl bade him farewell. This was probably the tenth or eleventh fangirl that had gave him an emotional goodbye. Couldn’t they just try to become stronger and not concentrate on him once. Why had they enrolled in the ninja academy if they weren’t interested in the ninja arts? Women really puzzled him sometimes.   
Iruka let out a sigh. Only Naruto’s squad was left now. He knew that Kakashi had a habit of being late, but this late? He was supposed to arrive at 8; the time was almost eleven now. I guess it can’t be helped. Jounin instructors had a way freer rein than he did. Goodness knew what would happen if he came fifteen minutes late, let alone three hours late. I guess I should retake the jounin exams. But after that time…  
Iruka’s train of thought was broken when a certain masked shinobi entered the room. Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan.  
“You’re late” screamed Naruto, while Shino just stared through his black googles and Sasuke just looked at him.  
“Call down now. In my defence, there was this cat that needed help and… you wouldn’t want to hear it.” Kakashi said and then gestured for them to follow him.

“Let’s start with introductions. Tell me your name, your likes, dislikes, hobbies and your dreams.” Kakashi said, trying to gauge their personalities.  
“Shouldn’t you be the one to start it?” Said Naruto.  
“That makes sense. I’m Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes… I don’t feel like telling you. My dreams for the future… never thought about them. Hobbies? I have lots of hobbies.”  
Naruto had a bewildered look on his face. His sensei hadn’t really revealed anything about him except his name. Taking a deep sigh, he began, “My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like eating any kind of ramen, and I especially like the Ichiraku ramen that Iruka sensei treats me to. I dislike the three-minute wait that comes while preparing instant ramen. My hobby is eating and comparing different kinds of ramen. My dream is to surpass the Hokage someday.”  
“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have many dislikes and I don’t like anything in particular. I can’t really call my ambition a dream, but I have an ambition: to restore my clan and to kill a certain man without fail.’  
“My name is Aburame Shino. I like bugs and I dislike people forgetting about me. My hobby is learning about various kinds of bugs and collecting goggles. My dream is seeing a day where nobody would forget about me.”  
They really are a weird group. “Very well then. Meet me tomorrow at the third training ground at 7 a.m. Remember not to eat breakfast, or you will puke. Tomorrow we will have a survival test.” Kakashi concluded his introductory session and dismissed them. 

Shino, Naruto and Sasuke came at 7 a.m. without fail, with Naruto almost half-sleeping. They however did not expect their new sensei to not arrive two and a half hours later.   
“You’re late” screamed Naruto  
“Well you see, there was this old grandma who needed my help…”  
Naruto snorted.   
“Since you don’t want to hear my tales of social services, let’s start with the test.” Said Kakashi, pulling up two bells. “You have to get a bell by 12 o’clock. If you get a bell, you get to eat food and you pass the test. If you don’t, then I’ll eat your food in front of you and you fail and I send you to back to the academy.”   
All three genin were troubled by this. They had worked so hard in the academy and now they might fail.   
No, I simply can’t fail, thought each of the genin at once. Kakashi picked up on this. This seems like an interesting batch. It’d be a shame if they failed. 

A/N   
This is my first-time writing fanfiction, so any advice/ criticism is welcome. If you liked it, please leave a review. Something simple like “This is good” works as well, though constructive criticism is much appreciated.  
The reason I swapped Shino and Sakura is because I felt like these teams work better. It’s almost stupid not to give the one with the most potential in genjutsu in the class to your best genjutsu user.   
I am Godspeed Killua from fanfiction.net but ao3 doesn't have the option of having a space button so I'm Godspeed_Killua for ao3 :)  
Jutsu  
Teacher’s Scolding No Jutsu: SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS rank ninjutsu which can force even the naughtiest of students to quite down. Users- every teacher in the academy.   
Konoha Academy secret jutsu: Death Glare: SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS rank ninjutsu used in conjunction with teacher’s scolding no jutsu. It is much rarer than Teacher’s scolding though and is only to be used at the naughtiest of students like Naruto. Users- high level teachers in the academy and some jounin sensei  
We had some really op jutsu in the first chapter huh  
Peace out  
Godspeed Killua


	2. The Bell Test

The Fox, the Eye and the Bug  
Chapter 2: The Bell Test  
Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto sadly  
Naruto couldn’t say he was happy at the announcement that Kakashi made, but he was definitely excited. If he were to pass the test, the villagers would definitely notice him. Heck, they would probably call him a prodigy. A news headline flashed through his mind “Uzumaki Naruto beats jounin instructor’s test”. Naruto was really pumped up now. They’re finally going to acknowledge me. All of my classmates, even Sakura-chan and that teme Sasuke. Naruto grinned and attacked Kakashi, hoping to get a bell in an early swoop. He charged at him with a kunai in hand. Before any of the three genin could see, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto, using Naruto’s own kunai to take him hostage.  
“Now now, don’t be so impatient. I haven’t said start yet, have I?” Kakashi said, giving Naruto a don’t try that again look.   
While Sasuke realized that this was expected from Naruto, he was impressed at his sensei’s speed. He glanced at Shino. The boy didn’t betray much emotion, but it was clear that even he was impressed. Kakashi had been able to easily speed blitz Naruto while restraining himself and none of the genin had been able to follow. I can’t continue on like this. I’ll have to get stronger if I stand a chance against Itachi.   
Kakashi released the kunai knife and then pushed Naruto gently. “Okay then. On the count of 3, start.” Kakashi began. “3. Go.” He threw three kunai half- heartedly, excepting his students to jump.   
Shino and Sasuke leapt, trying to find a place to stalk Kakashi and wait till he shows an opening. Naruto simply ducked it and then charged at Kakashi, using his kunai as a front. Kakashi pulled out a book and looked at Naruto unimpressively. “A ninja needs to know how to conceal his presence even frontline fighters like you. Aren’t you a little weird compared to the others?” Kakashi said, sighing. “I guess I’ll teach you the first shinobi art: taijutsu. Before that, let’s get rid of your kunai.” Naruto snorted. He tried to stab Kakashi, but the jounin simply deflected his attack and threw his kunai away. Naruto then launched a barrage of fists but Kakashi was able to block all of them. He put some distance between himself and Kakashi and attempted a dropkick. Kakashi moved away at the last second, not showing a hint of bother at Naruto’s futile attempts.  
Naruto was now fuming. Kakashi had managed to dodge all of his attacks and hadn’t shown any annoyance. Now he was going to really show him up. He concentrated all of his power in his hand and tried to punch Kakashi real hard. He was surprised when he saw that nobody was in front of him.   
Kakashi formed the tiger seal. It was usually used for fire ninjutsu but there was this one hidden taijutsu technique…  
Sasuke was surprised when he saw the tiger seal. That seal was used almost always as the primary seal in fire ninjutsu. Will he use a fire jutsu against that baka Naruto? That’s cruel even for me. Hn, maybe this teacher isn’t so useless after all. I’ll learn a few things for him. That’ll help me in my quest.   
Shino had sent a bug to Naruto. That bug stung Naruto and alerted him such that he was able to convey the basic information: Kakashi is behind you and he’s going to use a fire ninjutsu.  
Naruto turned, having just processed the information that Shino’s bug had given to him: Kakashi was behind him, and was possibly going to use a fire jutsu. Naruto tried to move but he couldn’t. He was frozen in his tracks. Damnit. Why can’t I move? No, no. This can’t be how it ends. I will get all of Konoha to acknowledge me. I will become the Hokaaa-  
Naruto’s thoughts were stopped by a painful feeling in his butt. “Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death." Kakashi screamed, using chakra to send Naruto flying into a nearby stream.   
Shino and Sasuke both shrugged. They had really thought that Kakashi was going to use a fire jutsu. Instead, he used… that. How the hell was this considered a jutsu.  
Under the river, Naruto grumbled. Kakashi had been able to deflect all of his attempts. The only thing left in his arsenal was the Kage Bunshin. He had hoped to show the jutsu for the first time in a mission but if he didn’t pass this test then there would be no mission. He would have failed and people would call him a loser and a failure again. He couldn’t let that happen. He muttered the words, “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu”. Naruto summoned 12 clones of himself. 11 of these would face Kakashi head on and one would sneak towards Kakashi to catch him off guard.   
Kakashi saw Naruto and 11 of his clones jump out of the stream and rush towards him. He was surprised at first to see that Naruto had managed to form real shadow clones and 11 of them, something even some highly skilled chunin weren’t able to do, but then he remembered what he heard of his and Iruka’s fight against Mizuki. “You can’t defeat me with that jutsu. It only makes more of you to fight me, and if you didn’t know, no matter how many times you add zero with zero, you’re always going to get zero.” Said Kakashi with a grin. That was when he noticed a clone sneaking up behind him. Hmm good plan. Let’s go along with this for a while. Kakashi pretended to be surprised when the clones grabbed him and the original clone came flying, trying to punch him. At the last possible second, the Hatake clan member used the Substitution jutsu and substituted himself with a clone of Naruto and then a nearby log of wood. It was quite fun looking at Naruto punch one of his clones real hard, then watch as all of them scuffle until one of them suggested for the original one to dispel the jutsu. After that, it was even funnier to see him standing all alone and then falling for the old ‘obvious bait’ bell trap. Kakashi then walked up to look at Naruto caught up in his trap and hanging upside-down, looking as stupid as Obito did. He picked up his bell and then reprimanded Naruto “A word of advice. When the bait is obvious, don’t take it.” Kakashi chided him with a sarcastic tone.  
“I get it, I get it.”  
“I’m telling you this because you don’t get it. You think you get it, which is different than actually getting it,” Kakashi would have spoken more, but he felt a disturbance in the wind… someone had aimed their shuriken at him. Given the options, it was most likely the Uchiha. Hmm he actually managed to conceal the presence of his shuriken well. For an average genin these days, this was impressive. For most, I would be able to sense their presence once they had taken the shuriken out. Still, Sasuke had just thrown them in the air. Is that truly what this generation’s best graduate could do? I was a jounin when I was their age. I guess that’s what war does to you. This was Kakashi’s last thoughts as he substituted once again. It was fun seeing Naruto getting all freaked out. Shino was also apprehensive and Sasuke gave an expression indicating that it had been too easy. My sweet little babies, you really think you can get me that easily. He then made a clone and aske the lone to go after Shino as he went for Sasuke.   
Sasuke was hurrying through the woods, trying to find as much distance between himself and Kakashi as he possibly could. His attempts were futile however as Kakashi appeared instantaneously in front of him. He tried to catch Kakashi off- guard by a kick, which he blocked, just like Sasuke wanted. He then tried to use disadvantage of being caught in a limbo position and tried to use that to his advantage and get one of the bells. He managed to touch one but Kakashi pulled away before he could truly grab a bell. Sasuke grunted and started collecting his chakra and superheating it for a fire jutsu. He finally managed to get enough and then spit out, while using his hand to mold the chakra. Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique  
A fire jutsu as a genin? Ah he’s an Uchiha isn’t he? Those guys really were silly, teaching children how to use fire jutsu but not when to. Kakashi thought from under the ground and then used Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique to bring Sasuke into the ground. “The second of the shinobi arts: Ninjutsu. Using a flashy fire jutsu is cool and all, but it wouldn’t help you much in a battle if you take this long to perform one jutsu, a skilled user would have easily retreated by then. If you had someone as backup then” Smug Kakashi said, teasing Sasuke.   
Someone as backup? What does he mean by that? Wait a minute. Was the test about teamwork. Ah shit. How the hell did I not figure this out for Sharingan’s sake?  
Kakashi’s clone looked at the work he had done. Shino was near- resistant to all basic genjutsu and he wasn’t going to pull out the sharingan for a battle like this nor was he going to use an A rank genjutsu. He had really wished to complete his three basic shinobi arts lecture but he wouldn’t be able to do it this time. Aside from being able to resist genjutsu, Shino wasn’t much of a challenge. Sure, he had his clan’s ninjutsu techniques but Kakashi had battled alongside members of the Aburame clan enough to remain unfazed by Shino’s techniques. He had been able to defeat him and had left him unconscious for some while. He really hoped at least one of them was able to figure out the trick to the test. This team showed promise and well his old sensei’s son on the squad. 

Later  
Sasuke had managed to come out of the shell Kakashi had placed him in with the help of Naruto. It took a ton of time explaining to him about the trick behind the test but he had finally given in because he too apparently had no other option. Then they had rescued Shino and explained him about the situation as well. Luckily Shino understood far faster than Naruto did.  
“We should first get to know about each other’s strengths. Naruto you go first.” Shino suggested.  
“Hai, hai. I know the shadow clone jutsu and I’m really strong as well. Oh yeah and I also know the sexy jutsu.”  
That bewildered both Sasuke and Shino. “What’s this sexy jutsu of yours dobe?”  
“Well I basically transform into a hot naked girl. This jutsu seems really effective on old men. I defeated both jiji and Ebisu with it.”  
Sasuke’s mind started working. He had been able to figure that Kakashi was a pervert no doubt. He’d managed to get a glimpse of the book that he read while fighting. “Can you use this in conjunction with your Kage Bunshin?” Naruto nodded so Sasuke continued, “Shino can you use one of your bugs to temporarily stun someone?” Shino nodded and then with a devilish grin on his face Sasuke commanded Naruto “Show me how to do one of your sexy jutsu dobe.”

Kakashi had long dispelled the shadow clone and then waited as the genin made a plan. I really should give them some time. It’s not much fun if I’m able to defeat them this easily. Besides, they already seem to exhibit some form of teamwork.  
Naruto formed a thousand shadow clones and then all of them simultaneously used the Sexy jutsu. Some of them were his normal sexy jutsus and some of them were naked versions of the women that were on his sensei’s book. As expected, Kakashi was unable to move. Some of his transformed avatars rushed towards Kakashi and grabbed him in a seductive way. The jounin sensei was dumbfounded and as expected was unable to move. That was because of Naruto’s little act. That and the fact that Shino’s bug had stunned him. Then, out of the blue, one of the transformed girls revealed themselves to be Sasuke and he then jumped forward to grab both bells form Kakashi.   
The genin team’s celebration was short lived when they saw both of the bells and Kakashi disappearing into a huff of cloud. Then their sensei appeared from one of the backpacks. “You really didn’t think you’d get me this easily, did you? The time is up now. You guys pass due to teamwork and seeing the true objective of the test.” And bonus points for the show guys.   
A/N   
This is my first-time writing fanfiction, so any advice/ criticism is welcome. If you liked it, please leave a review. Something simple like “This is good” works as well, though constructive criticism is much appreciated.  
First of all, yes, I usually do write very short chapters and this is most likely going to continue on forward as well.   
Second, sorry for not showing Shino’s fight. I’m looking to develop him more before having him take part in a major fight.  
I did focus more on Kakashi and Naruto in the first couple of chapters. Sasuke and Shino, as well as other side characters will get more attention moving on.   
Jutsu 

Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death: E-rank. Those guys just don’t know how to rank techniques at all. The user tightly clasps their hands together and extends their middle and index fingers, resembling the Tiger hand seal. Using the full weight of their body, the user thrusts these four fingers between the target's buttocks. Those who have felt pain through this jutsu shudder at its very name.   
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: B-rank to A-rank depending upon numbers. This jutsu allows the user to create one or more copies of themselves. The user's chakra is evenly divided between themselves and their clones: creating one clone will give it half the user's chakra, creating two clones will give each a third of the user's chakra, and so on.  
Substitution jutsu: E-rank. The instant before they are to be struck by an attack, the user replaces themselves with a block of wood or something similar. Because the attack does hit something, opponents may briefly believe that they've successfully struck the user. But this is merely an optical illusion and opponents will quickly notice what's happened.   
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique: C-rank. The user kneads chakra in their body and turns it into fire, which they then expel from their mouth; the more chakra they use, the more flames that are produced.  
Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique: D-rank. While lurking underground, the user grabs a target and drags them into the earth, leaving only their head above the surface.  
Sexy jutsu: E-rank. Naruto Uzumaki created this technique in order to play pranks on men. The user transforms into a beautiful woman, with special attention given to the woman's figure, breasts, and waist.   
Peace out  
Godspeed Killua


	3. Tree Climbing

The Fox, the Eye and the Bug  
Chapter 3: Tree climbing

You really didn’t think you’d get me this easily, did you? The time is up now. You guys pass due to teamwork and seeing the true objective of the test.” And bonus points for the show guys.   
Sasuke wasn’t sure if he was angry at his sensei or himself. Look underneath the underneath. Damn this bastard is good. He’d used a shadow clone to fight us while he himself had transformed into the backpack he carried. So even if we were able to capture the clone’s bell. It would disappear; or maybe not if he chose to go along with the act and not dispel the clone had we got the bells earlier. Maybe this one is also a clone. At least they had passed for now. This guy could definitely help him in achieving his ambition.   
“Meet me tomorrow at the same training ground at 9. You start your missions from tomorrow. Remember: don’t be late.” Said Kakashi with one of his characteristic grins. 

10 Days Later  
“What the hell jiji? Why does a talented shinobi like myself have to spend my time doing such menial tasks? These babysitting and catching cats missions are not meant for someone like me.” Naruto said, sitting down in front of Umino Iruka and Sarutobi Hiruzen, determined not to get up until he got something more ‘befitting of his stature’ as a shinobi, words he had carefully leant yesterday when looking through the library. “D-ranks are so boring. How about you give us something interesting like a B or an A rank.” Kakashi had drilled the mission ranks into his head.   
Iruka felt his heart would stop pumping at any given moment now due to fear. One of my graduates who hadn’t even experienced a fortnight as genin had the audacity to ask for an A-rank mission in front of the Hokage. Did he realize how rarely people who weren’t elite jounin got an A-rank. I consider myself to be among one of the strongest current chunin and have years of experience and I have only gone to one A-rank mission, which mind you was as C-rank mission which was bumped up to an A-rank because of some missing-nins I had faced. Would the Hokage think he was too bad of a teacher and rip out his heart? He certainly had the skill to do it. Heck, the Sandaime could rip out five of my hearts and I would barely have time to register what happened. Would the Hokage really do it? Iruka shuddered at this thought.   
Hiruzen gave Kakashi a look that said: get him out of here otherwise…  
Kakashi gulped. There were a lot of dangerous people he had pissed off who he didn’t care about. Pissing off the Sandaime Hokage however… that was something even he wouldn’t try.   
“How about instead of going to a mission, we have a training session today?” Suggested Kakashi hopefully.  
“Bah. You and your stupid training sessions. Teamwork and what not. Seriously sensei, so not cool.”  
“Okay then, I guess I’ll return the new jutsu scrolls I had borrowed for you…”  
Each of the genin perked up at this. Shino, who generally betrayed no emotion was also excited. A new jutsu? Hopefully it’s something related to my bugs.  
Naruto was the first one to speak up. “I guess we could spare some of our time to learn these new jutsu you speak of.”

“Since these new jutsu that I’m going to teach you are so awesome, you’d have to prove to me that you are ready for it.”  
“Well, what do we have to do?”  
“It’s quite simple actually. See that tree over there? You have to climb it – the shinobi way,” said Kakashi and gave them a live demonstration.  
“Ah. That’s like so easy. I’ll be able to do it in no time.” Naruto screamed jumping in excitement.   
Kakashi threw kunai in front of all of them. “Use this to mark your position. Always put an effort to go higher the next time. Now GO.”  
All three genin took off. They were determined to do their best, of course. No shinobi, especially not genin fresh from the academy would throw an opportunity to learn a new jutsu.   
Naruto was the first one to fall. He made a mark where he had last kept his foot and then fell. It was really bad, even for a first timer. Then again, most Uzumakis and jinchurukis had trouble with chakra control. He was both an Uzumaki and a jinchurukis. Sasuke fell not too late after Naruto. His chakra control was impressive considering the Uchiha were never really one for chakra control except Fugaku. If not for the fact that Uzumaki Naruto was on his team and his problems with chakra control were as bad as they could possibly be, Kakashi’s most obvious bet for this exercise would be that one Aburame Shino would do great at his first try. And he certainly wasn’t disappointed. He had almost reached the second branch before his balance faltered and he fell as well, though not before marking his last position on the tree. He’d been much faster as well; he had covered much more distance than both of them in roughly the same time. By the nature of the Aburame clan’s techniques, all of their members are rigorously taught chakra control. I’m still really good at predicting this shit. Maybe I should have become a soothsayer after all… Anyway, for my next prediction, I predict that Shino would be able to complete it in then next 7-8 tries and Sasuke and Naruto will finish at the same time, probably by the end of the night or tomorrow morning.   
Sasuke was stunned at Shino’s performance. He was expecting Naruto to do pretty bad, and was excepting higher for himself but wasn’t expecting Shino to beat them both so handily. Shino was better than him at chakra control, that he knew. He was the best among all the boys in chakra control back at the academy, only surpassed overall by that girl Haruno Sakura. He, however, did not know that the gap between himself and Shino had been so obvious. If I want to get stronger, I have to master this technique. I remember reading somewhere that this is the basic requirement for learning most jutsu. I’d wanted to try it earlier, but it was written that this should be done in the supervision of an average chunin. Well, dwelling on the past wouldn’t help me now. Training in the present certainly would. 

Naruto fell again. By now he had learnt how to land on his feet. This meant that he wasn’t getting bruises every time he tried tree climbing. Kakashi sensei was now long gone. Him and Shino had left earlier, after many hours of convincing him and Sasuke to leave. Now there just remained him and the teme. They were toe-to-toe now. Both of them were sweating heavily. Dusk was ending now. It’d be night soon. His eyes met Sasuke’s. “Wanna complete it this time?”   
“Oh, you betcha.”  
Concentrating chakra to his feet, using his previous attempts as a guide, he managed to channel just enough chakra and then he started climbing. He remembered what he had managed to squeeze out from Shino: the trick is to personally know how much chakra your foot is getting and manipulating it to obtain just the perfect amount of chakra needed. Using this as a baseline, he continued on forward. First branch, second branch, third branch. Sensing that his he was exerting too much chakra; Naruto pulled some chakra away from his feet. Whenever he regulated the chakra intake, his speed would decrease but he wouldn’t stop. Stopping now wasn’t an option. By the time he’d regulated his chakra output, he’d already crossed the fourth branch. Just two more to go… He felt like he was going to pass out due to exhaustion. No. Can’t uhh. Can’t give up now. With this newfound burst of energy, he poured his mind, soul and body into the exercise. He didn’t even realize he had reached to the top. He then noticed Sasuke. Both of them had done it at the exact same time.   
“Good job baka.”  
“Right back at ya, teme.”  
For the first time in his life, Naruto felt like he had a true friend.   
A/N  
So… an early release. Had a writing kick this week. Will most likely get another chapter out by Thursday. You guys know the drill. If you liked the story, please review and constructive criticism is welcome.  
I made a point not to include Naruto’s ‘-ttebayo’ verbal tick because it’s really hard to include it in English. Japanese verbal ticks are too much of a pain to write.  
Also, though all jutsu will be underlined, only the new ones would be getting a description.   
Peace out  
Godspeed Killua


	4. New Jutsu

The Fox, the Eye and the Bug  
Chapter 4: New Jutsu  
Disclaimer: Sorry, don’t own Naruto  
abcd- normal text/speech   
abcd- jutsu  
abcd- internal thought  
abcd- author’s notes/disclaimers  
abcd- bijuu  
abcd- Killer Bee’s raps  
abcd- pissed off Tsunade/ pissed off Sakura/ pissed off Yamato/ pissed off Iruka  
2 Days Later   
Kakashi was grinning. He’d been correct in both his predictions. Shino had finished in seven tries and Naruto and Sasuke had both finished at the same time. He had managed to survive yesterday by asking them to perfect their tree-climbing alongside another D-rank. Now there was no excuses for him. He had to teach them a new jutsu.   
“As promised, I’ve found jutsu for all three of you,” he said and gave them all different scrolls. “For Naruto, the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. For Sasuke, Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. For Shino, the Wall of Insects Jutsu.”  
All of them were engrossed in reading their jutsu. Ha! Do these brats know how much research I had to do to get the perfect jutsus to fit them? Ungrateful little shits. After calming himself, he went to each of his students. Going to Naruto first, “The Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was developed by the Sandaime. I think this’d be a good suit for you. It’s derived from the Kage Bunshin, which you already know. However, this is more difficult since the time interval is very less and you’re manipulating an outside body, unlike the kage Bunshin where you manipulate chakra inside your body.”   
“Uh… sensei?”  
“What?”  
“I already know how to make two extra shuriken.”  
Kakashi glared at him, “Explain how.”  
“Old Man Hokage got me a scroll and taught how to do it during the last year of the academy.”  
Kakashi looked at the other two for an explanation.  
Shino replied, “The Sandaime gave whoever was in the last year of an academy a gift. He got me the sunglasses I wear.” That was true. Shino loved those glasses. Perhaps it was just the way Sandaime gave gifts. Even if they he would give someone a bottle of ink, it would feel like a great gift. Also, he somehow knew what you wanted. The man was a great choice for Hokage, no doubt about it.   
“He was also the one who gave me most of my shuriken.” Sasuke said.  
Kakashi nodded. “Show me then Naruto.”  
Naruto took his position. Concentrate. Remember what jiji told you and the work you put into learning this jutsu. He took out a shuriken and threw it a training dummy. Breathe. Breathe. Now. “Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” Naruto said using all of his concentration. There were two shuriken who had hit the dummy. One was lying nearby.   
“You seem to have got the basics of the jutsu down. Next time, try to make sure all of them hit the mark. Then, try increasing the number. We’ll consider the jutsu complete when you’re able to get 50 shuriken clones to hit the target.”  
Turning to Sasuke, “Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. This technique is derived from the fireball jutsu. This time, try forming a dragon’s head using the flames. This causes much more damage than the regular fireball. Of course, that means that the chakra control for this is very high as well.” Kakashi said and finished it up with a demonstration. Kakashi assembled chakra in his lungs and then knead it to form a fireball. He then used shape manipulation to form the fireball and then finally finished it off, leaving the area nearby burned. “This is how the jutsu should look. I’m afraid I won’t be able to show you how it works internally.” Sasuke nodded.   
Coming to Shino, “I really can’t teach you how to use this jutsu. Instead, I have someone else to teach you this.” A man stepped up. “Hello. I’m Aburame Shibi.” He said, bowing. Shino and the others bowed as well. “This is a defensive jutsu. You have to instruct your kikaichū which are capable of flight to fly at very high speeds alongside you and your allies. After completing the basics, ty increasing the area around you. Another way of increasing this jutsu is to increase the speeds of your kikaichū,” he said and left. Shino’s father wasn’t an expressive man. He rarely said anything except what was necessary. That’s why Shino respected him. Why? Because shinobi were supposed to be quiet and masters of deception. His father was certainly that. He only wished others would see his clan in more respect. Even though his was one of the Four Noble Clans, they treated them as outsiders, freaks who were to be feared. He hated that, hated it. Why? Because he hated being feared.   
Kakashi eyed Shino. All three of them have issues I’ll have to address later. He said and sighed. “Work hard. These jutsu won’t come to you if you don’t work hard.”

Sasuke felt as if his mouth and his lungs were on fire. That’s the problem with learning fire jutsu. They were too taxing on his body. He had learned too fire jutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu and Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique and those techniques were also taxing at him during the training period. This technique did it to an even greater extent, as the shape transformation here was more complex than in his previous jutsu. He had to form the dragon’s head while the chakra was inside his body. He’d noticed soon why this was a higher rank than the fireball. Here, although the range was generally lesser, the destructive capacity of the jutsu was much higher than that of the fireball. He’d managed to form the dragon’s head yesterday and was now perfecting it. He didn’t want to admit it, but it wouldn’t have been possible without his sensei giving him a tip.  
Start Flashback  
Sasuke eyed his sensei. He’d been able to sneak up on him while he was practicing.   
“You seem to have made good progress Sasuke. However, you, like most new users of the jutsu seem to fail to understand one crucial thing. Honestly, I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t mastered this trick use complex fire jutsus with shape manipulation without harm. They all seem to either burn their organs or face chakra exhaustion.” Kakashi said. It seemed like he was trying to tell something to Sasuke.  
Crap. Why didn’t I think of that before?  
“You have to convert chakra into the desirable shape before converting into fire chakra.” He said dryly.  
“Right you are!” Kakashi seemed overly happy.  
Sasuke grunted.   
End Flashback  
Sasuke picked himself up and tried one more time. He converted the chakra inside himself into the face of a dragon and then rapidly heating the chakra to insane temperatures. Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger→ Ram→ Tiger.  
“Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique.” Sasuke cried out. He poured all of his energy to the jutsu and fainted. A masked man appeared and carried an unconscious Sasuke away. “You’ve done well.”

Naruto felt tired yesterday. For the first time, he had felt tired. It was a wired feeling, being tired. Not being able to run around the village countless times, pranking everyone in sight, bothering the hell out of Shikhamaru. The usual, y’know? Maybe it was because of the jutsu. Maybe he was dying. Maybe he had to live the rest of his life without pranking someone ever again. The last thought made him shiver the most. Kakashi-sensei had let him leave the first yesterday. Well, ‘let’ was a little generous. ‘Forced while holding a kunai’ was more appropriate. Aside from that, his mind was pressed with two issues. He didn’t know how far the teme or Shino had got with their jutsus. And he hated to admit it to himself, but he didn’t want to train today. He dreaded the very things he had loved: going to training to become the Hokage, and to be acknowledged by everyone, working his ass off so he could take his mind of other things and the like. He looked at the time. It was almost 9, the official time of their training for their jutsu, yet he didn’t want to go.   
He lay on his bed, twitching when Kakashi sensei arrived.  
“Isn’t it time for you to leave Naruto?”  
Naruto stared at Kakashi and then blinked. Once. Twice. “I can’t move Kakashi-sensei; I… I don’t want to move.”  
Never had a problem shot up so high on Kakashi’s list.

Gato’s base, Land of Waves   
Zabuza looked around himself. Besides him was Haku, the Demon Brothers, and some bandits who were earlier Gato’s men who he had trained in the shinobi arts, and Gato himself, held at point by Zabuza’s blade. The rebellion needed funds, and Mei had asked him to provide them immediately. The had already ransacked this base for Gato and he was now going to torture him to get information on the rest of his bases. If that doesn’t work, he would torture every last bandit. Zabuza did not care if he was sent to hell for this. He had a goal and he wouldn’t stop at anything to ensure that goal is achieved: to end the current reign, and to make sure that a similar situation never happens again.

A/N  
First of all, sorry for being late. I had some projects I was working on aside from this.   
I won’t be doing the jutsu thing from now on. I figured its kind of dumb since most abilities are from canon, or explained in the narrative. If you want more clarity on a certain jutsu, PM me or leave it in a review, I will reply to you.   
I have a reason for Naruto being this tired. It’s a story idea I want to pursue and it makes sense. Now before you start spamming “bUt ReGeNeRaTiOn ThO”, read the next chapter, it’s a plot element I slowly want to uncover and reveal to you.  
Stay safe,  
Godspeed Killua


	5. New Foes Appear

The Fox, the Eye and the Bug  
Chapter 5: New foes appear  
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns everything

Author’s Notes   
This chapter’s events take place a month after the events of the last chapter. Please realize that this is a stylistic choice which I’m going for. If you don’t like what I’ve done with Naruto, please wait till I finish with this before you angrily express your frustration. This chapter is more Team 8 and Team 10 focused so the time skip shouldn’t be as annoying but there are still glimpses of what happened.

Yuhi Kurenai, newly promoted jounin of Konohagakure surveyed the Sixth Training Ground. Her students had finished working on a teamwork exercise which she had thought of. It was a survival exercise. One among the three would get three days of time to prepare traps and the other two would have to navigate their way. Nothing lethal was allowed, and she would step in if she felt that something bad may happen. In her experience, most teamwork exercises would generally be focused on making or mending bonds between teammates or on simply finding new ways to incorporate their jutsu in a combination move. These exercises, however, wouldn’t help her team as much. They were all respectful to each other and got along really well. Sakura was the elder sister who acted like a mother for the group, Kiba was the brash brother, and Hinata was the younger sister who the other two looked after. Today was Hinata’s day to lay out the traps and it had been… disappointing to say the least. She knew that the Hyuga heiress had much more talent than she was letting on in the past week. Well, she always didn’t utilize her full talents, but in the last couple of weeks her performance was getting poorer. She feared it was because of the way her crush Naruto had started acting. No, it wasn’t appropriate to call it a crush. She had talked to each of three of them. She had convinced Sakura to study genjutsu with her, convincing her that Sasuke would like her better if she was a competent kunoichi. She had convinced Kiba that he should focus more on technique and theory and how it would enhance his practical fighting style. From her talk with Hinata, she had managed to understand that the reason she hadn’t quit yet was because of Naruto. He inspired her in a way that Kurenai knew she would never understand. Now, when he himself was down, Hinata seemed depressed, uncertain as if she didn’t know whether to quit or to continue. Her team wouldn’t be able to take the chunin exams. Hinata was sloppy during missions, and was even shyer than earlier, her confidence seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the deepest ocean. And the worst thing? Kurenai couldn’t help her in any way.

Sakura drank water from her bottle. Today’s battle was too easy. Hinata seems to have gotten even timider and quieter since when the … thing Naruto happened to Naruto. Sakura didn’t know what exactly happened, it was quite obviously above her pay grade. There seemed to be a really important secret surrounding Naruto. Oh well.  
Sakura pulled out the scrolls Kurenai had given her. Hopefully this would be more challenging than the previous scroll. She’d known almost everything in the ‘Basic genjutsu theory’. This one was ‘Basic illusions and how to implement them’. Genjutsu was easy to understand, at least in theory. The practicality was a shitload of work, even for the chakra control of someone like Sakura.

Shikamaru was tired. They had to travel to accompany a merchant into the Land of Tea. This was a rather simple mission. They should most likely face a small number of bandits. It was apparently a routine first C-rank mission for newbie shinobi. Tea was a relatively safe place and it was secluded from other places such that it was good for shinobi to get a measure of going out of the Land of Fire for the first time. Why are my teammates so troublesome? Ino was fretting over how her dress would get disturbed and her precious Sasuke-kun would not like her after this. Choji was munching on his chips and his jounin sensei, Asuma smoking cigarettes troublesomely. I pity both myself and the merchant, but mostly myself.  
They reached the border soon. There were 4 people guarding the border. Even non-shinobi villages trained some men in basic shinobi training. They were most likely genin level. Being genin level didn’t amount to much against another shinobi, but it made a huge advantage against someone who wasn’t a shinobi. Meeting the guards, Asuma began “I am Sarutobi Asuma, a jounin from Konohagakure. I’m here with my team to escort Kamikawa Maru, a merchant from your country. Here are our id cards.” He said and proceeded to show his, and his genin followed suit. The head guard nodded. Asuma nodded and swiftly weaved four hand seals. Snake. Rat. Snake. Tiger. “Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning” The area was covered in smoke. He formed two wind clones to protect the merchant while he himself made his genin stand behind himself, using two of his wind chakra enhanced blades. “Long time no see Rokushō Aoi,” he spat the last word out. Everyone knew the tale of the former jounin instructor of Konoha who had tricked Ibiki’s older brother Idate, fleeing to Amegakure after obtaining the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju’s legendary Sword of the Thunder God. While he didn't make full use of the sword, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with. The team he had with him were probably high genin to low chunin in strength, unless they were suppressing their strength. As Shikamaru would say, this was going to get troublesome.  
An umbrella popped out. Multiple poisoned senbon popped out. Senbon shower huh? You’re so predictable Aoi. “Wind Release: Great Breakthrough,” he said and scattered all of the upcoming senbon.   
“Using non-chakra enhanced weapons against an experienced wind style user? And here I thought you couldn’t get any stupider.” He sensed chakra behind himself. He was able to dodge but it hit his left arm. It was nothing major but his left arm would be paralyzed for some time. Aoi followed up with multiple slashes of his sword which Asuma countered with his wind blade. He was now using both of them with his right hand. Asuma had the elemental advantage but one of his hands was paralyzed. 

Choji used the partial expansion. There were around 30 clones. Even after they were striked by the partial expansion, the strike seemed to go through the clones. They would pass through it and then they would reappear. This was not the clone jutsu nor the shadow clone jutsu. Choji was puzzled. Maybe Shikamaru would know about it. 

Oboro signaled to his teammates. These kids were puzzled enough. He grabbed the leg of the girl and twisted it. He heard her scream. He used Hardening to hit the girl’s ankle. He then used the Headhunter jutsu to bring the girl under the ground. He was going to end them today. Pain would be pleased.

Hiruzen looked at the applications for the chunin exams. The new village of the Land of the Rice Fields was also applying. Their relationship with Rice was great and he didn’t want to stress that. Was their time on his schedule for that? He asked Kotetsu. Apparently he had. Let’s see how the leader of the Sound was.

A/N  
Sorry but this is probably the last chapter this month. I have exams coming up and I won’t get time.   
It’s been brought to my notice that the underlines don’t work for me when I write jutsu names so I guess I’ll drop it. Sorry again.  
The next chapters will fill in the time between the one-month time skip. There’s going to be some time till you get the next update on the Team 10 and Asuma vs Aoi and Team Oboro.  
Also, Oboro and his team are the guys that fight Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kabuto during the second phase of the chunin exams (see chapter 36). They’re from Amegakure.  
Aoi is from an anime filler (Land of Tea escort arc). He was heavily nerfed but I found him interesting enough. He’s much stronger here. He’s also from Amegakure. I’ll flesh them out   
Last thing, I know my chapter names suck. I just can’t think of anything else lol.

Peace out  
Godspeed Killua


End file.
